The Greater Good
by tjmack1986
Summary: Shawn would risk his life for almost anyone, especially a helpless child.
1. Chapter 1

The moment Shawn had woken up this morning, he knew that he was in for a day from hell. He had promised Gus the day before that he'd organize his desk. Of course, if he planned on doing that before trying to mooch a case from the chief then he'd need to be up early. So when his alarm clock went off at eight o'clock this morning, Shawn had groaned. Glaring at the offending device, he contemplated turning it off and going back to sleep. However, when he closed his eyes he saw the face of a very angry Gus staring back at him. So he yanked himself from bed, showered quickly never even enjoying the feel of the hot spray against his body. It was when he got to the kitchen that he noticed that he was missing something important. Rubbing his hands against his face, Shawn mumbled a few obscenities when he realized that he was out of coffee. So he left quickly, stopping off for coffee and a doughnut before pulling up in front of the office.

The organizing process had been boring and tedious, but he had finished right around lunch time. Smiling, proud of a job well done, Shawn had left for the station. That was when his day would go from partially crappy to full blown hell. Pulling in front of the station, he yanked his helmet off his head and made his way up the stairs. Upon entering, he heard a shouting match. Lassiter was arguing with someone. No surprise there. Not really. That is until Shawn came around the corner and saw a man holding a gun against a young boy's head. His eyes were crazed, and Shawn felt something bad gnawing at the inside of his stomach.

Shawn stood for a moment, his wide eyes staring at the scene. However, after a moment his hyper-observant side kicked in, and he took in everything. How Juliet and McNabb were inching closer on the right side, while a couple of other officers, Nash and Wallace, inched closer on the left hand side. Lassiter was the decoy, keeping the hostage taker's attention on him, obvious to the other officers.

Shawn shook his head, this plan was horrible. It was going to back-fire and the kid was going to pay the price. If any of those other officers make one ounce of noise, than the gun-toting idiot would do something stupid, like pull the trigger.

"Hold up! I'm getting something here—Wait a second. I had a feeling that my friendly police officers needed me. Apparently I was correct." Shawn paused, and winked at Lassiter.

The four officers that were advancing on the gun-wielding psycho, had stopped. Juliet was staring at Shawn with a look that said, shut up and go away. He simply smiled at her. His hands in the air in front of him.

"Hello, there. How about we don't do anything stupid, and let the poor little boy go."

A sneer appeared on the face across from him. "How about you go to hell. Who are you?"

"Oh, right. How absolutely rude of me! I'm Shawn Spencer, Head Psychic of the SBPD, and you are?"

"Leaving, as soon as these stupid _**pigs**_ move the hell out of my way."

Shawn nodded. "I don't think that my fine friends here can do that. I mean aside from the fact that there is fear for the child, there is also the fact that you pulled a weapon with the threat of using it." Shawn peered behind him when a hand reached out to touch his shoulder.

"Shut the hell up, Spencer." Shawn smiled and moved slightly to the left. "Spencer. You're blocking my shot." Lassiter spoke through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, apologies for that, Lassie. It is necessary." Shawn sighed, as he returned his attention back to the man in front of him. "Now, I'm sure that my friends here have asked you to lower your weapon, and I don't like sounding like a broken record, but I would appreciate it if you did lower your weapon."

"And I would appreciate it if you crawled in a hole and died. At least then you'd shut the hell up."

Shawn nodded. "Fair enough. I am afraid that if you don't lower your weapon, then we're going to have to do something drastic."

"Try me. Remember, I do have a young little hostage here."

"I don't need reminding, I can see him perfectly fine." Shawn sighed, and looked at the boy. "What's your name?"

Shawn could see that he was visibly shaking, and felt bad for the poor boy. "J-J-Jeremy."

Shawn smiled, as he knelt down for a moment. "Don't worry, Jeremy. We're going to make sure that you don't get hurt. I promise."

Jeremy sniffled, as he swiped a hand against his nose. Shawn stood back up and looked the man in his. The sneer never left his face, and Shawn fixed him with a glare. For just a moment, Shawn looked at Juliet and barely motioned with his head. Juliet realized what he was going to do, and shook her head. Smiling softly at her, he returned to glare at the man.

"You brought this on yourself." Shawn sneered back at him. Moving forward a few steps, the man's gun moved for a moment from Jeremy's head to Shawn's chest. Diving forward, Shawn grabbed a hold of Jeremy's legs and yanked him down. His hand snatched out to make sure Jeremy's head didn't hit the floor. Rolling so that Jeremy was shielded by his body, Shawn heard a gunshot ring out followed by a white hot pain in his left hand side. His vision blurred as a multiple other gunshots rang out. Rolling over, Shawn looked at Jeremy.

"Are y-y-ou okay?"

Jeremy nodded, fear etched on his features. Lassiter yanked Jeremy up, as Juliet knelt down beside Shawn.

"You're going to be okay, Shawn."

He nodded, as he took her hand in his. "Your plan was going to backfire." Shawn paused and closed his eyes against the pain. "I couldn't see any of you getting hurt. I—had to do something. To save my friends, to protect that child—Jeremy, to put an end to something so evil. I know not all people could have done this, to do something so—unthinkable, but it was for the greater good."

Juliet brushed her tears away, as she yanked her suit jacket off and pressed it against the still seeping wound in Shawn's left side. His eyes drifted close as his breathing slowed. "Stay with me, Shawn."

Lassiter knelt down on Shawn's right side and pressed two fingers to his neck. "Thready. Press harder, O'Hara. We're losing him." He kept his fingers in place until Shawn's pulse slowed and was no longer there. Sighing, Lassiter's head hung. "He's gone."


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: This is dedicated to JenCM on Psychfic. Her review was so lovely and hilarious, I had no choice but to give one more chapter. Just so you guys know, the last part of this chapter was hard for me to write, because as I writing it, Michelle Featherstone's "God Bless The Child" came on, and if you haven't heard that song. Well then listen to it while reading the last part of this chapter and you'll understand why it was hard. Enjoy! New story coming soon!**_

* * *

><p>Juliet wiped the tears from her face as she pulled up in front of Henry Spencer's house. This was not a conversation that she ever wanted to have with anyone, especially not Shawn's dad, and especially not twice. Juliet's eyes screwed shut against the stabbing pain in her heart, as another tear threatened to fall. She could fall apart later, when she was alone and wasn't expected to explain what happened.<p>

Opening her car door, Juliet climbed out, shutting the door behind herself. She had changed her clothes at the station, tossing the ones that were coated in Shawn's blood. Straightening her shirt, Juliet released the breath she hadn't realized that she was holding. Walking forward, she poised her hand over the door and waited for a moment before letting her closed fist knock against the door.

The door swung open, as Henry Spencer stood in front of Juliet with a smile on his face. "Juliet. Come in! You're earlier than usual."

Juliet forced a smile, as she walked into Henry's house. "Yeah, something came up and I got to leave early. Look-"

"Momma!"

Juliet turned with her still forced smile firmly in place. Bending down, Juliet caught her son in her arms. "Hey baby."

"Momma, me and papa pla'ed in the sand tod'y."

"Really? That's so awesome, Ty. Why don't you run upstairs and grab your stuff?"

"Otay, momma." Tyler clambered out of Juliet's arms, before she stood and turned her attention back to Henry.

"We need to talk—alone."

Henry's body stiffened slightly, as he nodded curtly. He led her through the house, and into his den. Shutting the door behind them, Henry turned toward Juliet with his arms across his chest. His eyebrow raised expectantly after a few moments.

Sighing, Juliet looked at the floor. "There was an—accident." Her eyes closed against the tears, and she could hear Henry shift positions.

"Accident?" His voice was rough, hoarse.

"Ian Barkley was brought in on charges of possession with the intent to sale. It was a misdemeanor, Henry. Expect that Barkley was on parole from a six month jail stint for driving under the influence-"

"What's going on, Juliet?"

Juliet let her arms wind around her chest, keeping herself together. She couldn't break down yet. "He had his eight year old son with him, Jeremy Barkley. He started screaming about how he wouldn't go back to jail, and grabbed a hold of his son and put a gun to his head."

Henry's eyes widen, even if he didn't quite understand what was going on. "And?"

"Shawn wasn't supposed to be at the station until later. Gus had him on a reorganizing project that was supposed to take up most of his day. Expect, he was there. He came out of nowhere, and tried to talk Barkley down. After a few minutes he could see that it wasn't going to work, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was planning something utterly stupid and so brave-" The last word choked it's way out of Juliet's mouth. Her hand covering her mouth in a way, to keep the sobs from escaping, however the tears fell without her permission. "He stepped forward, as close as he could without Barkley doing something stupid. Then he dove forward, and snatched Jeremy's legs so that he wasn't in the line of fire anymore. He was so brave in that moment, Henry." Tears were now cascading freely down her cheeks. "He used his body to shield Jeremy from any gunfire, and took a bullet to his left side at close range. It was a through-and-through but it nicked an artery. Before the ambulance could arrive—he bled out. I tried to save him, Henry—I swear I did."

Juliet didn't even try to stop the tears as her body collapsed to the floor. Her body jerked as sobs ripped there way through her body. "I'm so sorry." She hiccuped the words out. With her arms wrapped tightly around her upper body, she rocked back and forth repeating the words over and over. It became almost a mantra for her, and suddenly there were arms wrapped around her. As the sobs slowly came to an end, she found herself sobbing into Henry Spencer's shirt. Tears were apparent in his eyes as well.

"Thank you, Juliet, for telling me."

Juliet nodded, as she swiped a hand against her eyes. "I don't know how I'm going to tell Tyler that his father is dead."

"You'll find the words, Juliet."

Juliet nodded, as she started to stand up. Her eyes caught the sparkling ring on her left hand, and felt herself choking on another sob. She had lost Shawn before they could even get married. Tyler had been a surprise to say the least. Finding out she was pregnant only a year into their relationship, neither of them quite ready to settle down into married life just yet. Juliet had refused to marry Shawn right away, not wanting to rush into marriage just because she was pregnant. Tyler had been ten months old when Shawn had successfully proposed to her, and still, that had been almost two years ago.

Juliet followed Henry out of his den, and found her son sitting on the couch giggling at a cartoon playing across the screen.

* * *

><p>Juliet pulled the car in front of the house she had purchased with Shawn. Exiting the car, Juliet unhooked Tyler from his car seat, before pulling him into her arms. Mussing his hair, she carried him up the five steps, before sitting him down so she could unlock the front door. As she pushed the door open, Tyler took off running into the house.<p>

"Dadda! Dadda!"

Juliet felt the sting of tears well in her eyes, as her head shook. She had forgotten that when she went to pick Tyler up from his father's house, that Shawn was always waiting for them to arrive home. Always hiding, ready to sneak up on Tyler and scoop him up. Though they both knew that in their line of work that this might happen, Juliet had more come to terms that it would be her before him. She was the actual detective, where as he was just a consultant. Yet here she was, getting ready to explain to her not quite three year old son, that his daddy wasn't coming home.

"Tyler, come here please."

His smiling face, came running from around the corner. He was literally the spitting image of Shawn. His dark brown hair spiked up neatly in what Juliet had resigned to call the 'Shawn-do'. Tyler's hazel eyes were of the absolute same knee weakening color as his fathers, and that mischievous grin had also been inherited by his father. Hardly anything appearance wise, of Tyler's, belonged to Juliet.

"Momma, where's daddy?" His lip puckered out in Shawn's famous puppy dog face, and Juliet felt a new batch of tears press against her eyes.

Juliet felt like she was taking away Tyler's innocence. It wasn't fair that he was not even three and had to deal with the loss of someone he loves. Sighing, Juliet pulled him in closer.

"Tyler. Daddy had an accident-"

Tyler sucked in his bottom lip and started to chew on it. "Daddy's hurt? Daddy got a boo-boo? It's okay. Momma will kiss it, make it better."

Juliet fought against the tears, as she hugged Tyler to her chest. "Tyler-" Juliet took a breath around a sob that caught in her throat. "Daddy's not here anymore—daddy went to heaven. Remember how we talked about heaven, Tyler?"

Peered out from Juliet's chest, he merely nodded. "Daddy's gone."

Juliet choked back a sob. "Yes, Tyler. Daddy's gone."

Tyler sniffled, "I'ma sad, momma."

Juliet felt a tear slip from her eye. "I know, Ty. I'm sad too. We'll both miss daddy very much." Juliet stood up with Tyler resting in her arms. Walking into the living room, she sat down on the couch and let Tyler curl up on her lap. Slowly, they both drifted to sleep, dreaming of a brighter world where Shawn Spencer was still alive.

* * *

><p><em><strong>So...This chapter was even more depressing than the first one. If I made you cry-then I've done my job-though I do apologize for the tears. <strong>_


End file.
